Bucks County Playhouse return lauded by Broadway producer

Martin Griff/The TimesThe Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pa., on Monday, January 3, 2010.

NEW HOPE, Pa. — The Bucks County Playhouse, closed since last December, was reopened for one night last week to hear a leader in the business of Broadway say the illustrious history of the once-proud playhouse still burns brightly in the New York theatrical power structure.

Producer Jed Bernstein told an audience vying to resurrect the beleaguered playhouse that they are not alone; there are sources in New York to be tapped in the fundraising to buy and refurbish the theater that had been on a decline for many years, he said. About 150 people were in attendance — some enthusiastic and others skeptical.

Bernstein, producer of a theater version of “Driving Miss Daisy” and former president of the Broadway League, said the fledgling organization needs a vision as it tries to buy the theater for $2 million and raise another $2 million to renovate and repair the 73-year-old playhouse.

“We want to return the playhouse to its rightful place as a key player in American theatrical history,” Bernstein told supporters of the Bucks County Playhouse Conservancy.

The theater in the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s was a training ground for future stars of Broadway and Hollywood. But after 1972 the theater operated on stringent budgets and mostly with amateur actors while it was under the ownership of Ralph Miller. The theater went into foreclosure last December when Miller allegedly failed to meet the terms of a $2 million loan with Stonebridge Bank of West Chester.

Bernstein has his own vision for the playhouse. If the community-based conservancy group can get the funding to sign a deal with the bank in the next 60 days, he will use his own funding to launch a new era for the theater by next summer. Initially there would be theater productions including musicals under his directorship. The conservancy and other interested community groups, high schools and independent producers would have access to the theater once the summer is over.

The theater, he said, should have solo artists, civic and cultural forums, theater camps for kids and a year-round children’s program.

“We are limited in these things only by our own creativity,” said Bernstein. He tapped into the vision of some Broadway icons who were among the original founders of the playhouse to reinforce his argument for a new era.

“The joy that Moss Hart and the Oscar Hammerstein family talked about for the playhouse is a joy worth recreating,” said Bernstein. “It’s a joy worth recapturing. It’s a joy worth fighting to preserve.”

Peggy McRae, the temporary executive director of the conservancy group, announced that an anonymous donor has pledged $50,000 toward $250,000 needed to enter an agreement with the bank. She said that all gifts and pledges would be held in escrow by the nonprofit Heritage Conservancy of Bucks County.

That brings the total to $75,000 even though the group has yet to launch a fundraising campaign. A solicitation letter will be mailed in the next few weeks, said McRae.

The audience gave McRae encouragement to move forward. “I was really pleased with the turnout and the comments,” she said later. “I’m getting swamped with e-mail by people who are interested in helping one way or another.”

Mayor Larry Keller, a theatergoer, praised Bernstein’s vision. “He certainly laid it all out on the table. It didn’t overlook anything and I think has the right kind of vision to make the theater what it once was.”